Misfire after washing engine

[George]

Hi guys.
I (stupidly) washed the engine bay of my 2004 Ford Focus about a week ago. A few days afterwards it started misfiring slightly when driving, tends to be around 2-3000 rpm but goes away at high revs. I’m getting a loss of power and some backfiring can hear in the exhaust too.

I actually tried to not get too much water on the sensitive parts, but when I took a look after it started running rough, the spark plugs were 2 inches deep in water in the plug bores! See the picture.

I sucked the water out, pulled the plugs and cleaned and dried everything best I could. Still had the problem When I put it back together but I figured it would dry itself off from the heat of running (it’s still useable to drive). A few days later still the same so I opened all the electrical connectors I could around the bay to clean and dry the terminals. Some did have oily water sitting in them. Also checked the coil pack, it looks fine. Still the same. I’m not getting any fault codes either.

What would be the next thing to look at? Am I right in thinking it’s probably water sitting in some connection that’s upsetting it? Or could something actually be damaged? Should I replace the spark plugs or ht leads? See picture of the plugs now.

I only washed the engine down because I’m planning to sell the car, but can’t now that it’s not running properly! Feel so stupid, I’ve never washed an engine bay before.

Topic

[Richard Kirshy]

First …
You could try spraying down any electrical connections with WD-40
Next, judging by the oil and water deposits on your coil packs you appear to have a serious oil leak in the spark plug wells.
That could be the source of your mis-fire.
Might consider changing the valve cover gasket and well tube seals.

[Author]

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